


Business Arangement

by ChemCat



Series: Double Meanings [3]
Category: Ai no Kusabi
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1388389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChemCat/pseuds/ChemCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In business, there’s no place for feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Business Arangement

At the sight of Raoul, Katze gets up and wipes his sweaty hands. He’s never thought that he’d find himself in this situation again, not since Iason’s death.

Admiration. Hope.

“I’ve prepared documents you’d requested. Is there anything else you require of me, Raoul?”  
“Have you noticed anything unusual about the last transaction?”

Disappointment.

Raoul wastes no time and gets straight to the point. Katze must think carefully before answering. He had thought that there was something unusual about the transaction with Larcon; some lack of closure, an unsigned document, an unanswered question. However, since the arrangement had been signed long before he was brought on board of the deal, he dismissed it. Now, he wonders whether he shouldn’t. Or is it possible that he’s become too distracted, too absorbed in his own masochistic fantasies to care about anything else? Will he have to pay for his mistake now? In a matter of seconds, he has to put his previous, vague ideas into words and hope that his earlier misgivings were correct and that Raoul doesn’t call his bluff now.

Fear.

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, there was something strange about it. I thought that the deal was not as transparent and complete as it should be. There was— is a lot of room for speculation. On both sides. However, since I wasn’t the one negotiating the terms, I’ve assumed that it was a closed deal.”  
“No, it wasn’t. We’ve purposefully left out several things from the agreement to have a reason to send someone to Larcon for further negotiations and training. The Larconians were to provide us with the demos, we’d test it, and then we’d deposit the payment. However, there was a corruption in the initial files they provided us with. Luckily, Iason discovered it on time.”

This takes Katze by surprise. He wasn’t aware that the transaction had been prepared so long time ago – when Iason Mink was still alive. As if reading his thoughts, Raoul answers the unasked question with a heavy sigh.

“Yes, it was Iason. If it weren’t for his skills, we wouldn’t have discovered it so early…”

For a moment, Raoul’s eyes take a far-away, glazed look and he seems to be lost in thoughts. Katze is mesmerized.

Desire.

Finally, Blondie snaps out of his reverie. “Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed, at that time we didn’t need the demo software. We only wanted to find the contact with Larcon’s main programmer, who, we’d thought, was the real leader of Larcon. His name had come up earlier on several different occasions and we suspected he wanted to overthrow Iason, but we didn’t know the reason for it. After all, Larcon was never our vassal planet. Up to that point, the software exchange was only a cover to allow us to investigate everything; however, the corruption in the files gave us the first real indication of Larconians’ true intentions. Soon we’ve found out that the real purpose of the files was to override our defense program, disable the force shield, and send the ‘go’ signal to our enemies.”  
“Were they trying to form a union with rebels from other planets?” The mere idea seems preposterous to Katze.  
“No, although that was our first guess as well. As it turns out, they were trying to protect their natural resources: there are large deposits of silicon and titanium-containing compounds there. The main programmer, along with the officials I imagine, was concerned that if we’d discovered the deposits we’d attack their planet. Paradoxically, we hadn’t known about these until we were provided with the faulty software and started to look deeper into this matter.”  
“Why are you telling me all this, Raoul?”  
“You’re a Black Market broker and as such you may be useful to me, Furniture. I think this assignment will suit you, don’t you think?”

Katze stiffens. Not so long ago, he thought there was nothing really important about the transaction, that it was only Raoul’s whim, a mistake in documents. How foolish he was. Now, all the hopes he’d had, hopes that Raoul could be interested in something else than his computer skills, have been crushed.

“What do you want me to do?”  
“I want you to go to Larcon. I want you to do exactly the same things you were doing for Iason, and what you are good at: be a Black Market dealer.”  
Katze is amazed. “You really want me to finalize the deal?” Why bother? “Or is there something else you want me to do?”

Katze has a hard time pulling himself together. Over the years, he’s learnt to deal with belittlement and humiliation, but he finds crushed hopes far harder to get over. His sad eyes follow Blondie’s movements as Raoul puts documents on a table.

“Here you’ll find everything we’ve collected on the main programmer so far. His name is Bronk Imael. You’ll approach him and him only. As I’ve already told you, he’s the gray figure behind the Larcon’s leaders. You’ll convince him to work for Amoi and to hand over those minerals on a proverbial plate. By any means necessary.”  
“You make it sound so easy, but what if he refuses?”  
“By _any_ means necessary! Do I make myself clear?”  
“Yes, but are we really that desperate to get those minerals?”  
“Are you questioning my orders?”

Coldness in Raoul’s tone chills Katze to the bone. “No, but… I… I was just wondering—”  
“The deposits are large enough to be concerned about. Think what would happened if the rebels got their hands on all this silicon and titanium. Can you imagine the technology they would have in hand?”  
“There are other minerals they don’t have. Besides, they would need someone to design and operate the new technologies.”  
“And we all know that the true gems rarely come to surface on their own, don’t we?”

The allusion is all too clear to Katze and he cringes. His misstep as a Furniture, no matter how long time ago, will never be forgotten.

“But why do you want to do it behind the scenes, Raoul? If you want to send a message, wouldn’t it be better to do it officially?”  
“And let _everybody_ know what’s on the planet? No, we need to do this as quietly as possible. We need them to mine the ores and ship them to Amoi. It’s up to you to arrange that.”  
“What if the threats don’t work on Imael?”  
“Seduce him. You shouldn’t have problems with _that_.”

The words are like a blow to Katze’s head. Raoul’s mocking tone pierces the ex-Furniture’s soul. If it wasn’t for the survival instinct, Katze would have hit him. Hard.

“I’ll let you know about the outcome, Raoul.”  
“Yes you will. And you’ll use a coded channel for communication. You’ll find the codes in the files, along with other information you’d need. After reading them, destroy them.”  
“What about the documents I’ve prepared?”  
“You’ll take them with you as well. Even if we’re doing this offstage, we need to at least pretend that we want to strike a two-sided deal. And remember, I won’t tolerate any mistakes.”

After that, Raoul dismisses Katze with a wave of his hand. The ex-Furniture nods and reaches to the table for the files. His movements are observed by a pair of cold, green eyes. Eyes, which reflect a grim determination to gain new markets and remove anything and everything that would bring the Blondie closer to being a human. To kill two birds with one stone.

To stay heartless.

Lonely.

THE END


End file.
